reliable versatile low noise laser empowering sensing

1 PDV workshop June 2014 RIO Inc.

Reliable Versatile Low Noise Laser

Empowering Sensing Technologies

Lew Stolpner

Redfern Integrated Optics Inc. Santa Clara, CA 95054, USA


Outline

Laser source requirements for Coherent Doppler Sensing

and other metrology applications

Planar External Cavity PLANEX technology

PLANEX laser key performance

Stability and Reliability

RIO laser product portfolio

RIO subsystem integration capabilities


Optical Sensing and Metrology

Wind Metrology

Wind energy

Air traffic control

Interferometric

Coherent Rayleigh

C-OTDR

Brillouin

DTSS

BOTDA/R Coherent

Doppler LIDAR

Photonic Doppler

Velocimetry /Vibrometery

Oil & Gas

Seismic Reservoir Monitoring

Down well and SAGD

Pipeline Intrusion and Leakage Detection

Structural Monitoring

Static strain detection

Dynamic strain/vibration detection

Avionics/Space

LIDAR

RFOG

Military/Industrial/R&D

Military/Security

Perimeter intrusion detection

Navy acoustic detection

Lasers

Low Noise

Narrow

Linewidth

Sensing

Technologies

Applications


Lasers for Sensing: Key Requirements

Challenges for optical sensing market laser business

Market size is relatively small

Requirements vary significantly for various sensing technologies

Critical to make versatile laser source suitable for multiple applications

Performance

1550 nm wavelength range to utilize availability of Telco solutions

Low Phase/ Frequency Noise, Narrow linewidth, low RIN

Features

Small size, suitable for large multi-laser system integration

Frequency modulation and wavelength tunability

Field deployable

Stability in harsh environmental conditions

Reliability qualification to industry standards (Telcordia, MIL, Space)


Lasers for Coherent Optical Detection Technology

Methods of Coherent Optical

Heterodyne Detection

Requirements for Single-Frequency

Narrow-Linewidth Lasers

Photonic Doppler Velocimetry (PDV)

Coherent Laser Vibrometry

Coherent Doppler CW LIDAR

Optical Frequency Synthesis

Optical Phase Lock Loop, OPLL

R&D Heterodyne Metrology

Wavelength and power stability, over time

Wavelength and power stability, on/off

High frequency stability, sec/msec

High polarization stability

Low coherent excess noise

Low M2 factor for high coherent efficiency

Low RIN and High RIN stability

Market size for PDV lasers is relatively small and growing slowly

Only versatile COTS lasers can service PDV applications without costly

custom development


PLC with Bragg grating on silicon wafers

Gain: optimized InP MQW chip

Packaging: 14-pin butterfly package, proven processes and materials

Planar External Cavity Laser Technology

PLANEXTM

TEC

Bragg Grating

PLC

Gain Chip

PLANEX ORION


-180

-170

-160

-150

-140

-130

-120

-110

-100

100 1,000 10,000 100,000

RIN

(d

B/H

z)

Frequency (Hz)

High frequencies of relaxation oscillations

Electron – Photon resonance

Photon-photon resonance (cavity round-trip)

RIN < –140 dB/Hz at frequency > 2 kHz.

Shot noise limited up to 5 GHz

-180

-170

-160

-150

-140

-130

-120

-110

-100

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000

RIN

(d

B/H

z)

Frequency (MHz)

RIN 100 kHz - 20 GHz RIN 100 Hz – 100 kHz

PLANEXTM Performance: RIN

– shot noise limited up to 5 GHz


PLANEXTM Performance: Laser Phase Noise

0.10

1.00

10.00

100.00

1 10 100 1000 10000 100000

Ph

as

e N

ois

e (

ura

d/s

qrt

(Hz)-

m)

Frequency (Hz)

Phase Noise Comparison

RIO PLANEX

FL-O

FL-K


Both measurement and spectral integration match well down to -40 dB level on

Linewidth (LW) spectrum. (LW ~ 2.7 kHz @ -20 dB)

When only white noise level is integrated, SI provides pure Lorentzian LW ~ 1.2 kHz.

1

10

100

1000

10000

1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000

Fre

qu

ency

No

ise

(Hz/

sqrt

(Hz)

)

Frequency (Hz)

-40

-35

-30

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

-250 -200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250

SD

H B

eat

Sp

ectr

um

(d

B)

Frequency (kHz)

SDHmeasurement

Spectralintegration

Spectralintegration: whitenoise only

Spectral

Integration (SI)

ORION Laser Frequency Noise

Laser Linewidth SDH Beat Spectrum

White noise level

PLANEXTM Performance: Linewidth

• Observation time on SI: 30 msec.

• SI for white noise only is done with fiber delay 400 km.


Central portion of spectrum leads to very narrow LW

estimate( ~ 850 Hz), but spectrum has very wide and

elevated tail of the spectrum.

Excess noise is very high:>10 dB (at f > 5 MHz)

corresponding to pure LW >30 kHz

PLANEXTM Performance:

Excess Noise – Linewidth interpretation

DFB laser w. noise suppression circuit RIO ORION laser

10.8 dB

50.2 dB 61.3 dB

Excess noise for ORION laser with Lorentzian

linewidth of 1.6 kHz is < 0.2 dB

Numerical value of Lorentzian linewidth does not provide all key information,

critical for many applications


PLANEX wavelength setting and tuning

Sensitivity to cavity temperature ~12.5 pm/ºC (1.5 GHz/ºC)

Sensitivity to bias current 0.2 -0.3 pm/mA (25-40 MHz/mA)

Small cavity with fast stabilizations time

Phase continuous temperature tuning range ± 30 pm (± 4GHz)

Fast wavelength tuning via bias current up to 4 pm (500 MHz)

PLANEXTM Wavelength Stability and Tunability

Comparing with DFB Semiconductor

Lasers

5-10x better wavelength stability vs.

cavity temperature and current

Allows precise wavelength setting

Immune to the instability of electronics

Comparing with Fiber Lasers

No mechanical stretch on the cavity

No piezo tuning: no hysteresis and

resonances

Allows fast wavelength stabilization

and excellent on/off repeatability


PLANEXTM Frequency Stability

Measurement Time Frequency stability

50 msec 150 kHz p-p

30 sec 1.5 MHz p-p

1 hour 4 MHz p-p

12 hours 20 MHz p-p


1.0E-10

1.0E-09

1.0E-08

1.0E-07

1.0E-06

0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 1,000.0 10,000.0 100,000.0

All

an

Dev

iati

on

_N

ora

ma

lize

d

Observation Time (sec.)


Freq. Stability – Allan Deviation

Free-running.

Case temperature stabilized : <0.2oC over 3 h

ORION (G3) – ORION (G4) beating ref.

Fiber Laser – ORION (G4) beating



Wavelength turn off/on repeatability

Virtually no warm-up time required (< 1 min. for ORION module)

Excellent wavelength and power repeatability over repeated power

ON/OFF

* Measured 1 min. after power ON for each trial.

1,552.307

1,552.312

1,552.317

1,552.322

1,552.327

1,552.332

1,552.337

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Wav

ele

ng

th (

nm

)

Trial No.

Wavelength Repeatability *

D ~ 1 pm

(limited by wavemeter diff. accuracy: +/- 3pm)

10.0

10.1

10.2

10.3

10.4

10.5

10.6

10.7

10.8

10.9

11.0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10P

ow

er

(dB

m)

Trial No.

Power Repeatability *

D ~ 0.01 dB (limited by wavemeter diff. accuracy: +/- 0.2 dB)


• ORION laser is stabilized in

thermal chamber

• ORION case reaches near

const. case temp. after 30 min.

of power-up

• Pk-Pk wavelength change over

3 days: 0.6 pm

(NOTE: measured with Agilent 86122A

WM, WL differential accuracy: +/- 0.4 pm)

• Pk-Pk output power change

over 3 days: 0.19 mW

(NOTE: measured with Agilent 86122A

WM, P calibration accuracy: +/- 0.5 dB)


Long-term wavelength and power stability


PLANEXTM /ORION

Wavelength Tuning and Direct FM

Tuning TEC Temperature and Bias Current

Slow thermal tuning up to +/- 30 pm (+/- 4 GHz)

Fast direct frequency modulation efficiency

CW : 100 MHz/V ORION, ~ 50 MHz/mA PLANEX

10 kHz: 50 MHz/V ORION, ~ 25 MHz/mA PLANEX

DM BW > 200 MHz

-1.4

-1.2

-1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

-35.00

-30.00

-25.00

-20.00

-15.00

-10.00

-5.00

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

35.00

-8 -3 2 7

DP

hase N

ois

e (

dB

)

WL

tu

nin

g (

pm

)

Set point

WL tuning_measured

Delta Phase Noise

24 C,123 mA

24.8 C,115 mA

25.6C,107 mA

26.8 C,95 mA

23.2 C,131 mA

22.4 C,139 mA

21.6 C,147 mA 0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

0.01 0.1 1 10 100

FM

sen

sit

ivit

y M

Hz/V

,

fa/V

a

Frequency, MHz

ORION DM Modulation

Electronic FM

Thermal FM


Direct Modulation/Pulsing of PLANEXTM laser

PLANEX laser modulation bandwidth > 1 GHz

25 Ohms impedance input

Unique direct modulation/pulsing while maintaining

narrow linewidth performance

Minimal pulse shape distortion

Pulse Width > 5 nsec

Pulse Repetition

Frequency

up to 10 MHz

Extinction Ratio 25-32 dB

Linewidth < 15 kHz at pulse plateau

Pulse shape distortion Minimum or none

RMS Jitter 150 ps max


PLANEXTM Capability: Reference Locking

Frequency noise spectrum of the PLANEX laser with (blue) and without

(red) frequency stabilization.

Within the control bandwidth of ~60 Hz, the noise was suppressed by a

factor up to ~1000.

Performance of planar-waveguide external cavity laser for precision measurements. Kenji Numata, Jordan Camp, Michael A. Krainak, and Lew Stolpner. October 2010 / Vol. 18, No.

22 / OPTICS EXPRESS

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

Fre

qu

en

cy

no

ise

[H

z/r

tHz]

10-4

10-3

10-2

10-1

100

101

102

103

104

105

Frequency [Hz]

Free-running Locked to acetylene


PLANEXTM : Exceptional Reliability Telcordia qualified

Space qualified

Defined by NASA as “Game changing laser” for unique combination of high

performance and outstanding reliability for space applications

Selected by ESA and NASA for several space programs: PROBA-3, GRACE FO,

LISA and successfully completed Phase 1 of qualification testing

Reliability testing for space qualification

Environmental stress far exceeding Telcordia and MIL requirements

Tested production PLANEX units without special builds/selection/screening

Minimal changes after 1000 operating temperature cycles in vacuum and over 500

severe non-operational temperature cycles


RIO Product Offering Wavelength

1550nm ITU DWDM, 1064nm or custom wavelength

4 Grades of linewidth (1550nm only)

PMF & SMF options

PLANEX™ and ORION™

> 10 mW

> 20 mW

RIO Grande

>0.2 W

>1.0 W

> 2.0 W

RIO COLORADO

Wide tunable

Optical Phase Locked Loop (OPLL)

Linewidth

, kHz

Grade 1 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5

<15 <5 <2 <1

0.1

1.0

10.0

100.0

1000.0

1 10 100 1000

Ph

ase

nois

e (

mra

d/s

qrt

(Hz))

Frequency (Hz)

G1 G3 G4 G5


ORION Laser Modules

Features Low noise current source and TEC controller

Input for direct modulation and wavelength tuning

OEM Module with SPI, RS-232 and RS-485 interface options, GUI

Benchtop OEM Source with USB interface options, GUI

Storage Temp, º C -40 to +85

Size, mm 100x56x13

Operational Temp Range, ºC 0-70

Power supply 5 V

Power Dissipation, < 6 W

@ 35 C case temperature <3 W

@ 50 C case temperature <4 W


RIO GRANDE: Amplified High Power Modules

Nominal power 0.2 W up to 2 W

Power set range 10-100%

Low phase noise

Ultra low RIN

Narrow linewidth

High OSNR

0.1

1.0

10.0

100.0

1000.0

1 10 100 1000 10000 100000

Frequency (Hz)

Ph

as

e n

ois

e (

rad

/sq

rt(H

z))

RIO GRANDE 9110515

ORION 800094

G1

G2

G3

G4

Fre

qu

en

cy n

ois

e (H

z/s

qrt(H

z))

100

1000

10000

10

-180.0

-170.0

-160.0

-150.0

-140.0

-130.0

-120.0

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000

Frequency (kHz)

RIN

(d

B/H

z)


RIO COLORADO Widely Tunable Laser Performance Highlights

Low frequency noise

Low RIN

Available for C or L spectral bands

Cost effective solution

Convenience: GUI, integration

High Wavelength Stability (HWS) Mode Narrow linewidth <100 kHz

Optical Power Adjustment from 5 to 25 mW

Continuous Wavelength Sweep: 24 GHz peak-peak

or +/- 12 GHz max

Amplitude Modulation to 1MHz, M up to 10%

Ultra-Narrow Linewidth (UNL) Mode Ultra narrow linewidth ~ 25 kHz

Fixed wavelength and optical power

Frequency Modulation is available

-50

-45

-40

-35

-30

-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

-2,500 -1,500 -500 500 1,500 2,500

Norm

aliz

ed lin

ew

idth

spectr

um

(dB

)

Frequency (kHz)

Popt = 20 mW, Lorentzian Linewidth 22 kHz


Multi-Wavelength/Multi Functional

Subsystem Integration

Building Blocks: RIO OEM modules

PLANEX: high performance laser core

ORION: PLANEX + low noise driver and controller

GRANDE MOPA: ORION + optimized amplifier

Integration options

Scale up multichannel (DWDM) sources 19” rack mountable

Custom designed and build

Added functionality, enhanced performance and features - OPLL


OPLL - Dual Laser Source OPLL for distributed sensing and coherent metrology applications:

Distributed Brillouin Fiber Optic Sensing (BOTDA/BOTDR)

Heterodyne/ Coherent Metrology


OPLL Key Performance Specs and Features

Parameter Value Note

CW power > 5 mW average, two PM optical outputs

Laser frequency noise 103 Hz/Hz @ 100 Hz under locking conditions:

Linewidth <10 kHz

Phase noise -65 dB/Hz at 100 kHz offset

Frequency offset From 0 to 14 GHz step tuning

Tuning resolution 10 kHz

Continuous sweep tuning over 1GHz resolution 10 kHz @ 50sec speed

Locked step response time 5 sec at 10 MHz step


Summary

RIO PLANEX laser technology and products:

semiconductor single frequency coherent versatile lasers

Unique combination of:

High performance

Wide set of features

Unsurpassed stability and reliability

Small form factor and sophisticated control/GUI, user friendly and low

maintenance

Portfolio of integrated products and custom solutions

Widely accepted for multiple optical coherent Doppler sensing and other

metrology applications

Widely accepted as an optimal laser source for PDV

We are open for product improvement and sub-system integration:

please provide us with your wish list.


Thank you.

reliable versatile low noise laser empowering sensing

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